Should We Put Them in Jail? Copyright Infringement, Penalties and Consumer Behaviour: Insights from Experimental Data
15 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2008
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to deepen the knowledge of consumer behaviour in information goods markets, taking as a reference the sound recording market. In particular, its aim is twofold: on the one hand it attempts to get new insights on consumers paying special attention to their willingness to pay and to purchasing behaviour; on the other hand it wants to find out whether the recently adopted increase in legal measures against consumers by industries can have positive effects on lowering copyright infringement and raising legal demand. Using experimental methods, we elicited individual preferences in legal and burned CDs. We used hypothetical as well as real choices. Our experimental results suggest that lawsuits can effectively lower the rate of copying because they raise the probability of being caught by consumers and thus punished. However, they do not necessarily raise legal sales since the measured consumer willingness to pay is generally lower than the market price for legal products. Consequently, increased copyright enforcement may only lead to demand withholding.
Keywords: Infringement, Penalties, Consumer Behaviour
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Contracts and Competition in the Pay-Tv Market
By David Harbord and Marco Ottaviani
-
Exclusivity and Antitrust in Media Markets: The Case of Pay-Tv in Europe
-
Excuse and Justification in the Law of Fair Use: Commodification and Market Perspectives
-
Property, Liability and Market Power: The Antitrust Side of Copyright